The Russian Media Studies Project - January-May 2016

WASHINGTON, June 10, 2016 /PRNewswire/. MEMRI's Russian Media Studies Project (RMSP) was launched in January 2016 with the primary goal of exploring Russia-West relations and Russia's involvement in the Middle East in support of the "resistance camp" (i.e. Iran, Syria and Hizbullah). Russia's attempt to reclaim a great-power status has in fact contributed to increasing conflict between Russia and the U.S. and NATO. With tensions between Russia and the West on the rise, understanding Russia is becoming vital. Bulgarian political scientist Ivan Krastev wrote in the New York Times (August 2, 2015) that "in the heady days of the Cold War, Americans tended to view Soviet decisions making as a black box: you know what goes in, you know what comes out, but you are clueless about what is happening inside. Soviet policy was thus believed to be both enigmatic and strategic." The MEMRI RMSP is aimed precisely at informing the U.S. and Europe about what is happening inside the "black box," so as to make Russian policy clear and not enigmatic to Western decision makers and public opinion.

You can review the first five months (January-May 2016) of the MEMRI RMSP's output by downloading the following two booklets:

The first booklet provides a table of contents for all MEMRI RMSP output during January-May 2016. The table covers the following topics:

The Russian leadership's political outlook, Russia's relations with the U.S. and NATO, Russia's military involvement in Syria, Russia's relations with Iran and Turkey, Russian national security and defense policy, Russia's domestic and economic policy, Central Asia, and Russia's relations with its religious minorities.

To download this booklet, click here.

The second booklet provides a table of contents for all MEMRI RMSP reports focusing on Russia-NATO relations from January to May 2016. The booklet is an overview of the emerging conflict between Russia and NATO, ahead of NATO's July 2016 Warsaw summit. The booklet is subdivided into the following topics:

NATO's enlargement, NATO's ballistic missile defense system in Europe, Russia's diplomatic and military response to NATO's military presence in Eastern Europe, the NATO-Russia Council (NRC) and anti-NATO propaganda in Russia.

To download this booklet, click here.

You can view previous and current RMSP reports on the MEMRI Russian Media Studies Project website.